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If you have been reading my blogs recently, then you may be aware of how much I hate conservatories.

People often buy them because they appear to be a quick fix to a problem – namely they need more space. They also appear to be an attractive proposition because they seem cheap and usually do not need planning permission.

There are many conservatories in Milton Keynes, in fact I can see eight of them from where I sit writing this. I doubt any of them are in use today with the outside temperature struggling to exceed 6 degrees. I have also noticed that few of them are used for anything other than storage, even in summer.

As for being cheap, I think spending £10,000 for an appendage to your house that is not permanent, is expensive. Despite what you may think they generally do have a life span of a decade or two because they tend to look scruffy after some years in use – they are made of plastic after all.

The very worst part of a conservatory is the roof. This damned polycarbonate double or triple skinned plastic roofing really does look awful very quickly and in this weather the space below is very very cold because despite what the salesmen tell you, polycarbonate is rubbish at keeping the heat in – it costs a fortune to keep the space warm if you are determined to try.

I had my polycarbonate roof removed before Christmas, a steel supporting structure erected and a new proper well insulated and attractive slate roof constructed. It was planned very carefully so that the roof came off and the new roof installed in the same day ( not finished but sufficient to make it watertight). Within 3 days we had a warm room that could be heated with one radiator and it was warm enough to use in comfort. What a difference! By Christmas, a week later, it was finished inside and we had our Christmas dinner in there.

It also looks superb inside and out. I elected to have three Velux rooflights; there are cheaper ones on the market but these have terrific thermal insulation properties – after all this trouble, the last thing I was going to risk was being cold. If fact I went very overboard with the thermal insulation and given the amount of glass in the sides of the conservatory that we have retained, it was a questionable expenditure. However, I have no doubt that it has paid off. We now have a superb Garden Room as I like to call such a space, and it will have added much more value to the house, than the old conservatory that existed when we bought the house.

When carrying out such a project you have to check whether you need permission since you are deemed to be creating a proper room whereas a conservatory is generally exempt. However justifying this change was easy. It looks better and is much more efficient than the previous space to keep warm, especially so since the previous owners had removed the door and window separating the conservatory from the house. This is a real no no and should never be done, although I know it is done and often encouraged by some of the less scrupulous conservatory salesmen of Milton Keynes for instance.

To give a balanced view on the subject, I must just point out that if you do not expect to use the conservatory all the year round and if you do not intend it to be your dining room or any other space you have to use regularly, a really nice conservatory can be a joy for a few weeks of the year.